


Adrex the Engineer

by Limroto



Category: Critical Role, Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Adventure, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Gen, Original Character(s), Racism, Science
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-07-31 08:08:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20111884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Limroto/pseuds/Limroto
Summary: What would happen if an immigrant from Draconia grew up as an engineer, was sent to present his latest inventions for a military general, and had to flee because of a misunderstanding?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based on Critical Role, the NPCs and PCs in it, and tries to explain how certain things came to be. There will be a few PCs of the show in this story, but it is not based around them.
> 
> This story mainly takes place about two years before The Mighty Nein.

_Year: 813 D.P._

_Location: Draconia, floating south east of the Ashkeeper Peaks._

The ground shook, causing everything in the house to tremble, clink, and fall over to the ground. The eyes of the grown dragonborn whirled around to find a nearby cause, but settled on the front door, and the outside as the only source - nothing inside the house could cause everything to shake this much. And most disturbingly was the feeling, that this must be what some would call an earthquake, which was absolutely impossible, since Draconia was a floating disc in the skies. He dropped the planer he had been running over the wood, as another tremble made everything in the house vibrate, and he started running towards the front door - his mind still racing with what could cause this disturbing event.

_Could it be the crystals that had stopped working?_ he thought to himself, as the thought started to unravel what would happen if it was true.

The voice of his loving soulmate rang nervously from upstairs: "Dear - what was that?".

He really wanted to give her a clear answer, cause if his fear had come true, there would be some problems ahead for the city of the dragonborns.

"Mommy-" said the little voice of their 2-year old son. "I don't like it!"

The words carved into his father's heart, who wanted nothing more than reassure them both, that there was nothing to worry about. He reached out for the handle, as a roar, louder than anything he had ever heard before, echoed through every inch of the house causing him stop dead in the motion. He could feel his heart pounding, his breath inhale trembling, and his hand shaking as he laid it on the grip of the door. He swallowed, and steeled himself for the encounter with the only kind of entity he could think capable of make such a noise, and still be so high up in the clouds. The hardy door he had built himself made no audible noise as it swung up, but the surprisingly freezing cold wind hit his face as if a wall of snow had suddenly been dropped upon him.

The garden was not what he remembered from yesterday - where there had been green was now mostly white, and what had been waving in the wind was now stiff as icicles - literally. As frozen in place, the long leaves and flowers now had a stiff angle to the same side, as some of them started to break under their own weight. I took a second for the dragonborn to accept what he was seeing with his own two eyes - everything they had groomed in their little garden was dead with no hope of revival.

As his nostrils inhaled another lungful of air, a chill ran through his scaly body - both from the very sudden drop in temperature, but also from the realization of what destiny anyone who would have stayed next to the trees would have succumbed to. His open mouth exhaled a clear fog in the weather from his warm breath. This narrowed the range of entities down to precisely one. And as he turned his head around, stomps from the massive creature was heard clear as drums in 60 yards distance, as its huge form started moving into sight - the wings flapped twice as a storm started to form beneath its white, scaly torso, and as the two front legs landed, it roared again with a ferocity which hinted absolutely no mercy would come to anyone who would stand in its path.

He slammed the door shut, eyes wide open, and his mind tried to create an order of everything they now needed to do to survive. He swirled towards the two creatures he held most dear in this world, as the dreadful word left his mouth:

"It's the white dragon - we have to leave."

It was said without any hints of hope. It was not a suggestion. It was not up to debate. Everything would be gone, and if they stayed too long, they would be as well. The dread in the face of his soulmate showed no intentions of objecting.

"Get the egg, get a bag to it, take Ildrex under your arm, and get down here" he called upstairs, although they kept standing perfectly still. As she stood at the top of the stairs, not moving a muscle, a sound of stone and wood being crushed echoed over the city.

"Now!" he shouted, as he himself started to move to his shop downstairs, where wooden chairs, -doors, -symbols, and -tools laid scrambled everywhere on the floor. He forced his way through it all, towards the painting on the wall, which illustrated his father and mother holding hands, with his brother and himself on each of their laps. He paused for a split second, as he realized this would be the last time he ever saw them, before he tore it to the ground, revealing a safe in the wall. He spun the wheel back and forth as the combination clicked, unlocking the door to the one thing he had inherited from his parents most precious wrapped in a leather pouch.

A sound of arcane magic and a slight weight change on the wooden floors from the hallway suddenly announces a visitor he had not dared hope for.

"Donaar - is that you?" he yelled, as he eyed his chisel on the bench.

"Ay, brother - it is I" a slightly older voice rang back. "Do you have the stone?" The tone of the question was clear, demanding, but most of all worried.

"Right here" came the reply from the small shop. He grabbed his tool bag, dropped the leather pouch down into it, swung it over his shoulder, and rushes out to the entrance.

There, in a blue and black robe, stood his green scaled, elder brother with the arcane magic still fading around him, and his staff clutched in both hands, looking more tired than he usually did, panting, and with fear in his eyes.

"It came, Nadraa" he started, still gasping for air. "And it came way faster than Kruvanis and the High Council had anticipated. There is nothing we can do now."

Another building close by came tumbling down, and the rumble hit the walls of the house, sending shock waves through the floor.

Nadraa quickly swept in to catch his brother before he fell on his knees. They all knew that the Chroma Conclave had attacked and burned Emon to the ground only a few days before, and the other great cities of Tal'Dorei would be next. So the High Council had prepared their army, and gone through procedures for defenses, but to no avail.

Nadraa and his brother, however, had made emergency plans, should the worst happen - and it had.

"Sora!?" Nadraa called to his soulmate. "Are yo-" but he halted the rest of his line, as she came rushing down the stairs with Ildrex in her arm, and a bag over her shoulder.

"It's not good for the egg to be carried like this" she began worried, before yet another building nearby collapse, sending large chunks of walls flying at their own. They all hugged each other in a small circle, as the dust started to fall from the roof.

"Donaar, dear - get us out of here!" she pleaded.

The eyes of robed dragonborn lit up in white arcane magic, as the wall of the house suddenly fell in over the hallway. But as the stones hit the floor, they crushed only the carpet, and the arcane residue that were left behind.


	2. Chapter 2

_Year: 833 D.P. (20 years later)_

_Location: The city of Hupperdook in Wildemount._

The room was lit just enough so the pieces at the table didn't cast too much shadow when expected closely. The air inside had a faint metallic scent to it, but it wasn't distracting for a concentrated mind. The brown bound leather book at the table was opened at one of the last written pages, with several small notes sticking out of it marking different sections inside it. Each page was filled with small, precise sketches or various metal objects. All of them had small markings drawn with explanations, math formulas, and references to other pages with further descriptions.

Next to the book was a small stack of loose papers with math calculations all the way up and down the top page - some highlighted with circles or underlined several times. On top of them laid a bow compass - not as much to keep the papers down, but due to ease of access.

In front of it all sat a young, adult dragonborn in a chair, inspecting a small metal piece in his left hand. On his green scaled snout he had a pair of glasses with multiple lens sizes he could flip on for better view. The metal object he had been working on was a gear, with several cogs sticking out from it. He picked up a ruler, blew some of the metal dust off it, flipped another lens in front of his one eye, and started measuring the last cog he had filed. Mumbling each measurement to himself, while checking the result on his papers, he started nodding as everything seemed to be in order.

From outside the door to the rest of the shop, the door bell made a ring as the door opened. Not that it mattered a lot, since Yurgunn - his master - would be there to take care of the customer. _It wasn't her who left?_ Adrex thought to himself, before dismissing the thought. She wouldn't leave the store just to him without telling him.

Keeping one ear open to sounds from the entrance of the shop, Adrex continued placing the newly-shaped gear on a metal pin in a rectangular cork plate. As the gear gently slided down on the pin, its cogs met two other gears' cogs, but with a tiny nudge to it, it fell into place, fitting itself between the other two gears.

Adrex closed his eyes, clenched his fist, waving it a bit in a silent victory salute. Oh, how he loved it when the calculations were right. He moved his hand to a small piece of string attached to a piece of led, place it in the slide at a wheel, and let the led piece hang free in the air. As soon as the weight of the led started to pull in the string, the small gears started to turn in synchronization, as a fine piece of music with several musicians. As the wheels spun with different speeds, a hook locked itself into a gear, to prevent it from gliding back, and at the same time pulling a spring more and more.

Adrex watched it stop, and as he stood up he could hear his master talking to the customer in the front - no need to worry about that any longer. He walked around the table, and gently pushed a small lever ever so slightly, before the spring snapped from what had locked it, pulling another string it had attached, releasing a set of other small wheels. Adrex closed his eyes with a broad smile on his face - the trap was ready.

A raised voice from his master called from the store:

"Adrex - could yeh' come for a moment?"

_Ah, just in time_, he thought to himself. She would be so proud of him when she'd see the new mechanism he implemented.

"Yup - coming", he replied. He grabbed a small cloth on his way towards the door, cleaning his fingers of metal dust. He shifted his attention towards the sound from the store, as a new voice could be heard from the other side.

"It's an odd name for a shop, you have here - 'Hammer and Scale'." The voice didn't belong to either gnomes or dwarfs who were their most frequent visitors. It sounded like a taller figure.

The customer continued: "I take you are 'Hammer'?" It had a sarcastic undertone to the question, not rude, but stating something that had to be said, even though it was dead obvious, to keep the conversation flowing.

"Ay" said Adrex' master. "My name is Yurgunn Hammerbrewer, shortened to 'Hammer', and this..." she said just as Adrex opened the door to the store. "-is my associate, Adrex Scalanduur, shortened to 'Scale'" she finished.

In the store stood a dark elf in an elegant, purple, silk robe, highly contrasted by his long, blond hair which slid down behind his ears to just below the shoulders. As he turned around, the robe revealed a leather armor with a chitinous insect-like pattern beneath it - something only soldiers would wear.

As his eyes met Adrex', the dark elf's sly smile dropped immediately - oh, how Adrex hated it. It had been twenty years since the event, and people still associated him with dragons, and of cause everyone could see he wasn't a dragon, but instead of associating him with Bahamut, they for some reason all thought '_that is Tiamat's doing_'. And they would come with accusations of it being his, and his race', fault that the Chroma Conclave showed up - that the dragonborns had somehow prayed for it to happen. And when reminded Draconia was destroyed beyond salvation, they would say '_not in your plan, eh?_'' or other likewise insults. And it all started with that look, followed by frowns, a step back, and then the 'bravest' of the lot would step up to insult him.

The dark elf glanced down to Adrex' cloth in his hands, and back up to his eyes, before the right side of his face gave another smile. "Ah" he responded with another hint of his previous sarcasm, as he looked back to the dwarf with nut-brown hair behind the counter. "That does make a lot more sense now."

Yurgunn's left eyebrow shot up, showing a great annoyance on her face, before replying: "Adrex' name is on the sign of the shop, because he's half' the business here." Her remark came without any tone that could hint anything but seriousness. "He has created more traps for rich snobs than anyone in Hupperdook, so yeh' can pack tha' arrogant tone right back up," she retorted before finishing "-mr. dark elf I've still haven't gotten the name of yet."

As a more pleasant smile showed on his face, he straightened him self. "Touché" he said, as he turned his head back towards Adrex, and gave a nod.

"- And please accept my apologize, mister Scale... anduur". The apology sounded sincere, but came off a bit half-hearted. "That wasn't very kind of me - I was merely surprised to see another tall indivi..." but he cut short when Yurgunn almost stepped on his toes.

"Listen up, crick" she said in a harsh tone poking his armor. "There are certain things we talk o'bout, and certain things we don't. And we're almost through the list of what we don't. But A' can inform yeh', tha' business is on the 'do'-list, so how 'bout we stick to tha' one, eh?".

The tension in the room was so thick you could carve in it. Adrex wasn't quite sure what she had meant with 'crick', but he was often surprised by her choice of words and accent, so this might be one of them.

The elf seem as if he had shrunken a head, as he took a step back, and made half a sweep of a bow. "Please, it was not my intension-" but before he could finish the sentence, Yurgunn cut him off:

"Then what was it?" she said as she started to walk around the counter, clearly frustrated by the situation.

From the elf's cloak, he drew out a small tube.

"I have visited some of these snobs you speak of" he said as he started to open the tube. "I have been trying to locate the best to contract, and most of those I visited named you two as _the_ best at the job."

From the tube he pulled out a scroll which he handed to Yurgunn.

The dwarf hesitated for a short second before taken the scroll, slowly opening it, as the dark elf continued:

"My name is Morenfein Derret, and I work in a special department of the Ghor Dranas' military. We focus on removing thieves and burglars from..." he hesitated, choosing his word carefully. "... places they should not be" he finished with a smile.

"You two make traps which so far have had so much success, that the underground community of thieves have made a list of where your mechanisms are placed." He turned and walked two steps towards the window as he continued: "My colleagues and I have infiltrated some of these groups, and even though we could simply arrest them as soon as they enter buildings to rob, it has become almost a joy to watch these poor devils struggle getting past your systems." His voice indicated it was not just 'almost', but they were looking forward for these events. Morenfein's torso turned slightly as he looked back at them.

"You two have created something so hard to get past, that the best of thieves sees it as a victory to get past, and not just a victory to steal." He took a pause for a breath, and looked around in the shop, landing his eyes on a board with letters from customers - all of them praising their work preventing burglars from robbing their houses.

"But the thieves are getting crafty" he said, as he inspected some of the letters on the board. "We are no longer able to apprehend them before they vanish in thin air by some sort of magic." He looked up from the letters and back to Yurgunn, as she finished his monologue, reading from the scroll:

"You want us to build a ..." she squeezed her eyes together as she read. "... mobile trap, that can immobilize a target?" Her left eyebrow shot up again.

"Yes, but not just mobile" he said, now addressing the both of them. "It must be carried as easy as a sword or a bow, and it must be able to hit the distance like was it a crossbow."

The silence in the room was audible. Adrex broke it after a bit, as he put his tongue out to wet his lips, and started to scratch his chin.

"We made blowgun in the walls" he started, as he bounced he head from side to side to come up with a useful solution for this. "And we could extend the barrel, but they would not have the range you ask for..."

Morenfein didn't say anything, but just gave a little nod.

Yurgunn chipped in: "And crossbows are too large to handle, I guess?"

Again, just a nod.

Adrex had several ideas running through his head, which he almost discarded as fast as they got there.

_Perhaps a crossbow could get a turn mechanism for the bow with the string, so it just looked like a long piece of wood until needed? Nah, that would be too slow_.

"Why not just use wands with magic missiles?" Adrex asked at last.

Morenfein scratched himself on his nose bridge as he closed his eyes. "Yes, we considered that. But the sorceress and wizards at our disposal informed us that making these will be quite costly, and would take a few weeks... just to make one." He made a deep inhale before he continued: "And we would like a lot of them - something we can... mass-produce, so to speak."

He had a glimpse in his eyes telling Adrex that it wasn't just for burglars they needed this for, but lacking better knowledge he didn't inject.

"I know I ask a lot, and this might require some research" Morenfein said at last, and reached for something in his other side of the cloak. "So I brought some funds to get you started." He pulled out a bag the size of two fists, and placed it on the counter.

"It contains not gold, but platinum". He bid himself a bit in his underlip as he continued. "It will not be subtracted from the final payment listed in the assignment - consider it an investment we are willing to make."

The smile Adrex observed on Morenfein's face had several meanings; 'yes, we have a lot of money', 'do not mess with us', but most worrisome: 'we own you until this is done'.

The first he was used to - their service wasn't exactly cheap, and the people who bought it had more than they paid. The second wasn't unfamiliar to them either, since their clients came in with these large sums of money, and they really expected the service to be top notch. But they never had anyone come up and pay this much up front. Adrex had to swallow ones. They really wanted this mobile trap device, or whatever he was to call it, and they were dead serious about getting it from the partners.

He looked towards his mentor, who had picked up the pouch at the top, weighing it in her hand with a few, light shakes. As she started to nod she sat the it down at the table.

"Yeh' have yeh'self a deal, mr. Derret." she said as she put it back on the counter before continuing. "But as yeh' heard, we don't have it stash out in the back - this'll take some time to make." She placed her left arm on the table as she looked to the scroll next to the pouch. "If it should be tested for practical use, be mass-producible, and live up to those expectations..." she nodded her head a few times. "... I'd say we'll be need'n two months."

Morenfein's face looked like he cleaning his corner teeth with his tongue, before he slowly started nodding.

"Right - two months." He looked to Adrex, and back to Yurgunn. "May I make a further request?" he finally said.

Yurgunn crossed her arms, and tilted her her slightly to the left. "Go on..." she said with a tone indicating that he better not come up with another requirement to make this even harder.

"You make a demonstration for us at our place" he finally said.

Adrex couldn't see the issue here. Everything they had made so far for previous clients, had to be setup at the client's establishment.

"That is no problem, mr. Derret" he quickly said, raising his hand to shake. As soon as he did, the dark elf shifted his stance ever so slightly, but seeing the dragonborn's palm flexed open, he grabbed it lightly and shook it gently. Adrex wasn't certain, but he thought he saw something blue light up from the paper Yurgunn was holding in her hand.

"I look forward to it, mr. Scalanduur." He took a step back, and gave them a respectful bow, before he opened the front door and left.

_That is a lot of money_, Adrex thought to himself. As he turned to Yurgunn to share his excitement, she stared at him in disbelief. Adrex smile vanished instantly.

"What?" he asked, confused about her reaction.

"Yeh' have no idea what yeh' just agreed to, do yeh'?" she said without a change in her tone, pointing to his name which had appeared at the bottom of the paper.

Adrex didn't get it. Installing the gear on-premise was a pretty common way to treat customers, but something most definitely didn't sit well with his master.

"You think it's a bad thing he contracted us to do?" he asked a bit puzzled.

The dwarf kept her eyes locked at his for another few seconds, before she firmly walked to the door, locked it, and held up her right index finger. Her voice lulled like a song, falling from a high note, thought not annoyed: "Let's take it from the top, eh?"

She turned around, gestured to Adrex' chair to sit, and walked towards her own as she continued.

"In came a to-be client. He first asked me if this was the right place, and said he had a delicate, custom trap he wanted to have build. All'n all a standard client, and tha's when A' called for yeh'". Her tone where soft as she spoke, and nothing seemed unusual to Adrex thus far.

She pulled her chair out behind the counter, and continued a bit sharper: "Just before yeh' came, however, he asked 'bout the name of the place - did you hear that part?"

"Yes..." Adrex had had his attention to the conversation from here, and he was a bit unsure why it had transpired as it had. "He asked about the name - Hammer & Scale - and after he'd realized I was dragonborn, you were kinda up in his face?"

She dropped her palm down on the table with a slap.

"Oh, come on, Adri" - her name for him over the years, and went on frustrated: "Tha' arrogant prick was in the process of mockin' the shop's name, which happens to be named after us. Not only did he assume A' was 'Hammer' since A'm a dwarf, and yeh' to be 'Scale' since yeh' a dragonborn. As soon tha' racist bastard saw you entering, he immediately assumed wha'ever yeh' had in yeh' hand was somethin' endangering him."

She clearly didn't like him, and - yes - he had noticed the reaction in Morenfein's face, but her reaction still seemed a bit too aggressive, though she continued:

"We've had rich snobs in here before - yeh' remember that Galloway-guy we did the sleepin' dart trap for, right? He fuck'n mocked yeh' for being dragonborn!"

At some point Adrex had stopped counting stupid people they had met, who didn't understand the difference between evil, hoarding dragons, and dragonborns. That guy wasn't even the last to accuse him of things he, his family, or his race had ever done, but he had started ignore them, and let Yurgunn do the talking - she always had some sharp comebacks, so Adrex could only hope to accumulate some for later.

"Yeah, but this guy actually apologized-" Adrex started, before Yurgunn cut him off.

"He continued to mock both our physical appearances as an excuse, and that's where A' draw the line!" she said, point her finger down into the counter.

She drew her breath to calm herself down a bit.

"A've lived here in Hupperdook for the past 18 years, Adri'. This city consist mainly of gnomes, so most of 'em been callin' me 'big girl', and 'tally', and the elfs, humans, and other-" she held her hands up as quoting "- 'normal sized' living here all say 'shorty' to me. But new folk comin' into our shop, and starts pickin' on your height as well... A' ain't havin' it. It's our place, and thereby our rules."

At this point Adrex had kinda lost what was left of a good day. The mention of his height was really something he didn't feel like talking about. Compared to his parents, uncle, and brother, who all ranged between 6" to 6"5' feet tall, Adrex was but 5"5' himself, and it didn't seem like he would ever get higher - something which really bugged him.

His parents had said, that his egg had been mishandled when they fled by some of the authorities, and that might have done it, but that he shouldn't think too hard about it - he was 'way smarter than was taller'... whatever that meant. Those properties wasn't comparable.

But he hadn't picked up, that the elf had mentioned the height differences.

"Was that why you called him..." Adrex didn't remember the exact word she had used - _Crit, crek?_

Yurgunn raised her left eyebrow. "When A' called him 'crick'? Ay - tha' was why."

She squeezed her eye a bit, as a worried frown came across her forehead. "You know what a 'crick' is, right?"

Adrex thought he had heard it before, but he wasn't sure in what context. He leaned his head back a bit, as he looked up into nothing to recall it.

A horn sounded over the city of Hupperdook, signaling the work hours had passed, and the inns and taverns were opened.

She looked out the window.

"Yeh' in a hurry today?" she asked him. "Meet'n someone?"

That was borderline rhetorical, but a nice gesture - he might be, but unlike other young adults who could get alcohol in the bars, Adrex never really enjoyed his time between the noisy crowd of mostly halflings who all seemed to have it out for his tail as soon as he turned just the slightest. The conversations he had wasn't exactly inspiring either, since all the drunk people ever did was complain, and dance some wild dance tapping their boots, or stretching their leg as far in front of them as possible - which also ended up in someone complaining about his size and tail.

There were the twins of cause - the two female humans who worked with their father in his shop. One was pretty and... not so smart, while the other had a lot of knowledge in their common field of interest, but looked like she always slept with her face on a hard surface. They were friends, for sure, but their company was enjoyed in small doses.

Adrex inhaled, and sighed ever so slightly, looking towards the city as fireworks started to shoot into the air. Yurgunn took this as a pretty clear answer.

"Well, time for a hist'ry lesson then" she said, as she reached to a cabinet behind her, which among other things contained a few bottles for this time of the day.

"Boulderhead Bock or Hardroot Cider?" she asked him looking towards him with just one eye.

He wasn't fond of the alcohol itself, but the Boulderhead Bock wasn't like most of the thin beers served by the gnomes - it had volume, and tasted nice. And even though it made him a bit numb at the fingers, it was still one of the few beverages with alcohol he enjoyed.

Only forming the sound of the letter 'b', Yurgunn reach in for the Boulderhead Bock, and with a swift movement tossed it to him, which he caught with a little effort.

As she pulled out one for herself, she continued where she had ended.

"Crick" she started, as she wrinkled the cork from the bottle with a small 'pop'. "So, a long time ago when the Ashkeeper Peaks alone wasn't enough to hold back the Krynn empire towards the east, the ol' Julius Dominion had some wars with 'em. When the Dwendalian Empire took over the Julius Dominion about 200 years ago, there where some disputes between Dwendalian and Krynn soldiers as well. No matter which age you fought the Krynn, they have always been referred to as 'cricks', due to the sound their battle armor makes..."

She looked at Adrex, who had opened his beer with some difficulties, and sat with a face of confusion. Yurgunn took a swig, and clarified:

"Their armor are designed to make a noise of crickets when they move. It's some sort o' battle tactics, or what-not, and is associated with the chitinous... beetle-like armor, which our new client wore beneath his cloak."

She held a pause - it didn't seem to have a reaction on Adrex.

"He is from Xhorhas, most likely" she pushed.

Adrex finally took a good sip at his drink, still not catching onto what she was implying.

"Yeh' uncle, Donaar - he's in the council of the city, right?" she then tried.

_Odd turn of topic_, Adrex thought, but nodded while the bottle was still at his lips.

"Has he spoken 'bout how things are going lately east of the Ashkeeper Peaks?" she continued.

Adrex had to think back a bit. His uncle talked a lot - mostly about politics, and why someone always was in his way of creating a better world, so Adrex could name a few of the local politicians who were considered 'dumb, selfish, and small-minded', as his uncle Donaar so politely had called them over and over again. But not so much of what happened east of the mountains in Xhorhas.

He lowered his bottle as he swallowed, shacking his head.

Yurgunn tossed her bottle's cork to the trash bin. "It's shit, to say it without wrappin' it in."

Adrex raised his right eyebrow, pondering how severe it actually was. Before taking another mouthful he asked:

"And with 'shit', you mean...?"

Yurgunn sat her beer down, and said "It's so bad, that I've had to redirect the military recruiter who came here to somewhere else, while you made the business go around."

Adrex' train of thought caught up rather quickly to what that meant, spitting out what was left of liquid in his mouth over the counter. _A military recruiter? This was bad!_

Yurgunn's eyes calmly followed the fountain that sprayed over the counter and floor, as she casually picked up the cloth Adrex had come in with, handing it to him. She would have preferred to have kept that secret, but things were in motion, and with a binding contract she could at least tell the whole truth to him.

"So just to be clear - yeh' agreed to create a 'trap' for the Krynn Empire, which can neutralize a foe so fast the target can't even teleport out, and it must be as mobile as a bow." Her tone were flat, as she took another swig of her bottle.

Adrex' mind was racing. _WHAT HAVE I DONE? I should never have agreed to this - this might have been the worst trade deal in history. This could be used against... against anyone._

As Adrex took the cloth and began running it over areas that _could_ have been sprayed, his master took another swig - the conundrum of how to handle the situation had been firmly planted in Adrex' mind.

"But that's not all yeh' did, Adri'. Yeh' agreed to go - in person - and deliver it to him. And while yeh' were at it, yeh' need to give a presentation of it."

Adrex' mind had stopped working. _What in Bahamut's name have I done?_ He stopped his cleaning and just sat down on the floor with his head in his hand, resting on his knees.

_I can't give them this. Well, it's not giving - they'll pay money for it, but still! If I give this to the Krynns, and they invade the Dwendalian Empire, it could turn the tide to their side... Unless..._

Adrex looked up at Yurgunn.

"We are two about this" he exclaimed. "If I build something, you know how it works..."

She sat her bottle down on the counter and swallowed. "True - go on."

"Well, If we sell it the Krynns, we could also sell it to the Dwendalians, right?" Adrex continue.

The eyes flared up in the dwarf's head, as she stared at him for a long second.

"Yeh' a genius, Adri'!" she exclaimed. "Did I teach you that - I don't know - maybe..." she said out loud to herself before she looked up at Adrex again.

"That's _a lot_ of money, my dear friend! We could be more than just rich! We could-"

She stopped mid-sentence, pondering something.

"Could we live with that?" she finally asked, staring Adrex dead in the eyes. "Dependin' on what we come up with, could we live givin' the world this creation?"

There was worry to detect in her voice, as Adrex slowly nodded thoughtful.

"Well" he started. "It all stands and fall on what we invent, I guess. If we somehow create what has been specified, it will be extremely valuable to everyone who wants everyone else harmed. You could argue that's our line of business, but usually we try to keep someone out of something. This thing can be used actively to... well... depending on what it can do."

Yurgunn made her way to Adrex, and sat down next to him.

"Dependin' on what we make, sure." She took another swig as she leaned up against the, to her, huge dragonborn next to her, handing him her bottle.

"Yeh' know" she started, as Adrex took a sip. "If we sell the rights to make these with a cost per creation - tha' could be a lot of money" she said with a smile on her face.

Adrex glanced down towards her. It certainly could. If just every tenth soldier needed something like this. _Oh yeah - this could be a gold mine without comparison_.

He tapped the bottle a few times with a thoughtful face. "So... how do we make it?"


	3. Chapter 3

The sound of more fireworks flying in the air, busting into different colors, had become so mundane that Adrex didn't even bother to look up at it. '_Work hard, and party hard_'' had become the motto of the city, and it was quite fitting.

12 hour work days was the norm here, compared to... well... everywhere else, as far as Adrex had heard. Hupperdook was the factory of the Dwendalian Empire, and for the long hours system to work, the council of the city had pushed for making it the norm to also celebrate the long days - booze was cheap, the legal drinking age was when you started working 12 hour shifts a day, and it was in no way frowned upon to still be partying at 3 in the morning. After all - the barkeepers had 12 hour too, just shifted compared to most in the city.

Another rocket went up not too far from Adrex - it took a bit longer to go off, and burst into a large, silver ring of glistening sparkles, followed by a cheer from the launchpad from where it had been shot up. Adrex looked in their direction. He had tried to send some rockets up - it wasn't expensive in Hupperdook, and they had quite an export of it to the rest of the empire. The twins made and sold fireworks, and although it was a competitive business here, they mainly focused on shipping to elsewhere - their prices were higher, along with the quality, so they didn't have to make as much of it.

They had explained that they really had to focus on two things, which they separated between them; They made fireworks that didn't blow up in your face, and they made instruction manuals that was as clear as day. Apparently they had received a lot of complains about people getting injured who where not used to handling fireworks - mostly from stupid people, they had added. Some had stood no longer than a few feet from an exploding rocket, while other had even held it in their hand, as the fuse ran its cause and the rocket started to fly away.

"It's dangerous, but we try to make it safe" one of the twins - Victoria - had said. She wrote manuals far longer than any normal person would ever need, but she and her sister - Smearchuckle - really couldn't afford more lawsuits from people _who thought_ they knew how to use them. Adrex had to roll his eyes just thinking about it.

As he continued walking from the shop towards his home, another rocket went up with much more power than usual. Adrex turned his head as he kept walking, just to see if-

**BOOOM**

It went off far earlier than anticipated, and sent a shower of red, blue, and green sparkles flying around the nearby houses, some just a few feet from Adrex, to which he instinctively dropped to the ground, knees curled up to his chin, and arms protecting the rest of his head.

Common for all rocket was that they flew as long as they had powder before they went off. You could normally hear when the powder ran out, before the rest of the rocket exploded into colors in various patterns. This rocket had _not_ used all of its powder before it blew up, and from the intense sound it gave off to start with, it had a lot to carry up, if it was not evident from the explosion he had just witnessed.

Adrex hadn't been hit, but it was damn close. As he looked up and around, he could see scorch marks on the ground near him from small burning balls the rocket had carried.

"Sweet Bahamut - thank you" Adrex mumbled under his breath as he got up, and dusted the dirt from his clothes. Doors swung up with curious, although careful, people who came to see what the huge explosion was about. It had been both loud and nearby, and if there was anything entertaining, there would be a crowd to watch. But besides the scorch marks, all the action was gone as far as Adrex could see.

A voice from one of the patrons in the nearby inn reached Adrex' ear: "Was that your doing, dragon?"

As Adrex looked in the direction, a stubby bearded gnome stood on the doorway with a mug spilling beer on his own shoe, a facial expression of both disgust and hatred, and a few of his buddies behind him.

Adrex ignored the question from the gnome, continuing towards his home.

The voice went on, now louder than before: "Don't think for a sec'n, that we don't all know it was you, you overgrown iguana! But keep walking, would you! We don't want you here!"

_I hereby relieve you of your right to existence, you racist ankle biter_, Adrex thought to himself, as the shouting became less and less audible. Now in a foul mood, Adrex starting walking faster.

_Why can't they just keep their face shut?_ he thought as he kicked the nearby pebble. _Why does he even think it's OK to say that out loud? There should be a freaking law against that shit! A tour in Gearhold Prison would really serve idiots like him well - just for a few days._

Adrex kicked the pebble a bit further.

_He should be target practice for rockets! Instead of up in the air, he should be strapped to an archery target, and you just fire towards h-_

Adrex stopped his line of thought, before the next took over:

_Shoot with a rocket? Have it fire away in the direction you point, and hit a target..._

He had a feeling he was onto something here. This might be what he and Yurgunn needed for their mobile trap.

He started a fast walk home, his mind racing of what to do, what would and wouldn't work, and after thinking a bit about it, he realized he didn't know enough about rockets to actually say what would work.

_We don't need a huge explosion, just a small one, but instead of fireballs it could explode with shrapnels. And perhaps we can put some feathers on it - just like an arrow - so it will fly more straight. We really need precision here._

_And a short fuse for instant rocket start - yeah, that might do it. But what about the jet stream behind the rocket, which pushed it upwards? You would get burned..._

It was not perfect. He had to consider how to handle this safely. Perhaps he could swing by Victoria and Smearchucle tomorrow and have a chat about it. They might be able to show him the inside of their profession.

As he went down the stairs of the Upper Tier and further away from the center of the city, the houses started to thin out, and he took a turn off the road towards an old mill. It wasn't in use anymore as a mill, but instead served as a house for a dragonborn family, who had come twenty years ago as refugees with a minimal amount of personal belongings, asking for a place to stay. Adrex was born here, and had never known his family's previous house or city, and talking about Draconia always made the mood drop a bit.

The extension to the side of the mill housed his dad's workshop, and the top of the mill was his uncle's 'sanctum', as uncle Donaar liked to call it - it wasn't that they weren't allowed up there, they were just instructed not to touch anything that was glowing - except for normal candle lights. Adrex' room was in the basement, next to his brother's room.

As he reached the door of the old building, he called out: "Mom - dad - I'm home!"

He found his key, put it in the key hole, and pushed a hidden panel at the top of the framework he and his dad had installed, to which the door clicked open, letting him in. He inhaled the welcoming smell - a mix of stew his mom was cooking, and small bits of fine sawdust which couldn't be kept out from the extension to the house.

The inside of the building was all covered in fine wooden facades his dad had made over the years, which made everything seem really nice and expensive. The kitchen and dinning room on the ground floor took up most of the space, and the spinal stair case led up to their common room, and the sleeping quarters for his parents, and for his uncle.

In the kitchen stood his mom, humming near the stove, slicing something to mix into a stewpot. Dressed in her midday-blue dress and a white apron, she turned her head slightly as she continued slicing what was in front of her, her tail tip waved a bit from side to side.

"Welcome home, dear." she replied with the soft, warm tone, as she gently eyed him. "How was your day?"

As she continued to prepare the food, Adrex brushed his feet in the door mat, and started prioritizing the day's events.

"Well..." Adrex started, dragging it a bit as the greatest impacts oddly seemed to be the most negative.

If there ever came a time when he could hide his feelings from his mother, it would be far in the future, cause she stopped her cyclic motion on the cutting board, turned her attention towards him, her head bowed a bit forward to meet his level, and with eyes that could tell what had transpired.

"Another one?" she simply asked.

Adrex bumped his head from side to side.

"Well, Yurgunn explained our new customer's actions, so it would actually be two in one day" he sighed, as he pulled a stool out and took a seat at the table, placing both of his elbows on the table, resting his face on his knuckles.

"Was he drunk?" his mother tried, which were the most common cause this conversation normally took place.

"No" Adrex replied a bit sad. _Not that it would have made it that much better if he were._ "The second one was though. The first one had just never seen a dragonborn before, and..."

They had had this talk over and over, and it was the same story each and every time.

His mother placed a caring hand on his right shoulder, as she moved up behind him, laying her chin to the side of his head, giving him a supporting hug.

"The eyes, the hesitance reactions, and staggering speech?" she tried categorize it to.

"Absolutely the eyes and the reaction, but..." Adrex sighed once again. "I was in the back making - oh yeah" he interrupted himself, with a more possitive note. "I finished the gear-system I've been working on for the past few weeks, and it runs like a charm!" Excitement had taken over the grim mood - he hadn't even had time to talk to Yurgunn about it.

"It's silent, takes up way less space that anything we've previously made, and everything just fits. It's..." he looked up towards the always caring mother of his, and inhaled to finish: "It's the best thing I've ever made, and worthy of my legacy."

"Legacy?" his mother said in an amused and questioning tone, as she stood up, and went back towards the stove. "Sweet, sweet child of mine - you are almost 20 years old, and creates something new each moon cycle. If this is to be your legacy, what will you spend the rest of your time doing?" She picked up the spoon, and stirred in the stewpot.

"Well, one of my achievements then" Adrex corrected himself. "But we got this new client today, and he didn't want something we normally create. He wants a _mobile_ trap."

Adrex waited for his mother to ask for details, just as his father walked into the room.

"A mobile trap, hm? He wants to carry a plate around with him, which has a crossbow pointing towards itself?" He greeted his son with a double tap on the shoulder, as he continued towards his wife, kissing her at her cheek, while Adrex' eye rolled a round for the dump dad-joke. His dad put his head towards the stewpot, and took a deep breath through his nose.

"Smell like a lovely wife, and a lovely dinner" he said, as he placed both of his hands at her hips, moving them from side to side in a small dance. "What are we having tonight?"

Adrex rolled his eyes another round. _Yes, that is somehow cute, but please, dad - every night?_ But apparently his mother loved it.

"It's juniper stew, and I've added some rosary peas for flavor - just like old times" she said with a small chuckle.

His dad made a noise, that sounded almost like a purr from a cat.

"Ahh - spicy. I love it!"

"How was your day, dad?" Adrex asked.

Nadraa turned around, and pulled a stool out. "Not too bad, I should say. Warden Poppin Drokrusher came by for his desk, saw it, and ordered both a new chair, and a new cane."

His low voice changed to a higher registry. "The handle must be exact", he said, imitating the grumpy, old gnome taking care of Gearhold Prison.

Adrex couldn't help but chuckle a bit. That gnome had had the most ridicules requirements for the table - all sorts of finesses and details had to be engraved into it. And although Nadraa had written each of them down, handed the notes to the gnome to review, the gnome had still repeated each of the lines, ending each of them with "and do so properly". They all knew why he had emphasized it, but they had also learned to turn the rough to the smooth. Besides, there were no customers if you always yelled at them, and most of them actually came back because they had good a experience doing business.

"Did he go over everything again this time?" Adrex asked a bit tired, though hoping for a laugh.

His dad gave a slight chuckle. "For the chair, he just looked over the list, back at me, back to the list, and nodded while mumbling it." His dad loved to tell these kind of stories.

"For the cane however, he kept saying 'but it must fit _my_ hand', and of cause it should. So I took out some clay, made him squeeze it - haha."

_Clay?_ Adrex thought to himself.

"He wasn't exactly pleased, but when I told him I now had a mold for his exact hand, he started looking frantically at the notes for the chair, to which I had to reassure him he didn't have to sit in clay."

Adrex laughed just imagining the look on the gnome's face.

"So, will you just carve from a huge block and then get the handle right afterwards?" Adrex asked.

Nadraa shuck with his shoulders. "I don't think I can water bend it. The handle won't be able to... handle... it" he said, winking his right eye.

Adrex shut his eyes. "Dad - please, I-I'm..." He had a bit of trouble saying it. It was actually a little funny. "... I'm trying to help you here."

Nadraa placed an elbow on the table, resting his head in his hand. "Go on then. Lets see if I can get a... grip... on it." he said, putting a smirk on his face.

_There are no end to these silly jokes_, Adrex thought to himself, as he pulled up the notebook he always carried in his satchel along with a pen. As he placed it on the table, he started explaining with a few drawings on an empty page;

"Let's say you have the handle here" Adrex said, drawing a rectangle in the book. "If you drill a hole from the bottom of the handle and up, you should be able to attach a stick to it."

Adrex turned the book around, and pushed it towards his father.

"This way you'll save a lot of wood" he added.

As his dad looked at it, he said "yes, but then the stick would fall out, right?" not exactly impressed.

"Right..." Adrex said, pulling the book back, tapping the back of his pen a few times at the page. "Then you could place the stick in the hole, drill another hole through the side of the handle and the stick, and place a pin in it" he said, drawing a small circle in the middle of the stick.

His dad started nodding a bit.

"That... could save me a lot of wood. And the stick could be replaced, should it break, right?" realizing what this could lead to.

"Yeah, or if the warden wants another type of wood, he can still keep the handle. Or if he wants to be fancy, he can replace the handle, and keep the sticks!"

Nadraa sat there for a short moment of time with a smile on his face. "Where do you get all these ideas from, son?"

"If he gets them from food, we might have a few more this evening" his mother injected, as she placed the steaming pot on the middle of the table.

"Could you get the plates, dear?" she said to Adrex.

A simple nod, and he stood up to get the four plates, cups, and cutlery. Muscle memory however always counted five of everything, but since his brother, Ildrex, left the house, it was only his parents and uncle who were to be served.

As he turned around to set the table, a small bump could be heard upstairs from his uncle's room, along with some creaking floors having a lot of weight pushed down on them.

His mother glanced up, as she walked to her seat. "Donaar has an excellent sense of timing, I must say" she said with a smile on her face.

New creaking from above told them, that Donaar had arrived - or at least someone had - but what sealed the deal was the sudden outcry he made.

"IDIOTS - ALL OF THEM!"

All though slightly muffled, the voice most certainly belonged to his uncle Donaar, and the outcries was like the 'I am home'-call Adrex gave when he entered the mill. Sometimes Donaar would spice the line up with new phrases, that would empty Adrex' mouth for any food or drink in a spray in front of him.

As the footsteps continued down the stairs, Adrex started putting the plates on the table. But it always felt... wrong, somehow. There were four plates, and not five, which left the pentagon shaped table Nadraa had crafted for the family with an empty slot.

Adrex paused as he put down the last plate, and stood still for a moment. The house hadn't been the same since Ildrex left two years ago. There was something missing, and it was not being replaced, changed, or even addressed.

As Donaar entered the kitchen, he - too - stood still, but for a very different reason, as he closed his eyes, inhaled, and spoke: "Is this the house of reason and common sense? For I have yearned for such a place all day."

As he opened his eyes and continued towards the table where the others had just taking their seats, he padded Adrex on the shoulders as a greeting, before his snout turned its attention towards the pot in the middle of the table, and sat down with a loud sigh.

Sora had started to pour stew into each plate, as she said: "It sounds like you have had a long day too, dear."

Adrex couldn't tell if it had been physically draining on his uncle's body, or it was more of an act, but Donaar looked like most of his energy and will had been sucked out of him.

"It's like a kindergarten" he started, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "The day starts with good conversations, but at the end of the day they sit on their own small thrones, and wants to dictate what should happen - and none of them wants the same."

This was clearly the nice way of putting it, Adrex thought to himself, only based on complaints his uncle had uttered other days, before he continued:

"And when they can't get their will, they just repeat themselves with a raised voice, as if that would raise their arguments as well", he said before he turned the gaze to his sister-in-law, and the plate she was handing him with steaming stew.

A smile curled up on his face. "Yes - a very long day, indeed" he finished, as he accepted the plate with both hands.

There was a moment of almost silent, as they each enjoyed a spoon of Sora's famous (at least in this household) stew, as the tickling at the throat required a full lung's breath, before one got used to the spicy food.

As the stew found its way, Donaar broke the silence: "This is indeed reason to come home".

Adrex had a hard time focusing on the food though. His eyes were fixated on the side where his brother used to sit, but now just left an empty space between his mother and uncle. It had been a nasty breakup to say the least. The one broken panel in the wall had been replaced, after Ildrex had let his anger strike that, instead of their father, as Nadraa had tried to calm him. There had been a lot of shouting back and forth, but Ildrex had left in the end, taking only what a backpack could carry, and set out to wherever the road would take him.

Adrex' train of thought were disrupted as his father poked his spoon on Adrex' hand. "You look like you wandered off, son. What's the matter?"

Adrex gave a look towards his father, as he started to nod slowly. "Yeah, that... that's a good reason to come home" he said without putting any enthusiasm into the line.

It didn't miss anyone what Adrex was thinking. Everyone glanced in the direction of Ildrex' seat for a quiet moment, before Nadraa broke the silence.

"If food could cut it-" he started, before Sora dropped her spoon onto the plate, stood up, turned around, and fled the room.

Nadraa gave a sigh, as he tapped the spoon twice at the plate, closed his eyes briefly, and followed after his wife to comfort her. Adrex sat there, looking after his parents in silence, not quite comprehending how they have gotten to the taboo of the family. It wasn't until his uncle started slurping some of the food, that Adrex realized he wasn't along in the room.

Donaar broke the silence: "I am sorry for placing the words in your mouth, Adrex" he started. "Those were a poor choise of words on my behalf."

Adrex didn't have a lot of words in him right now. He had a lot of unanswered questions, but he could only utter one heartbroken word:

"Why?"

His uncle gave a heavy sigh, as he placed the spoon next to the plate, and folded his finger with the elbows on the table.

"Do you remember when you and Ildrex were young - when you played together outside?"

Adrex sure did. "Yeah, we used to fight with sticks as swords, and play hide and seek."

Donaar nodded his head, as he continued: "Yes, you spent quite a lot of time doing that. You were better at the latter, if I recall correctly. You could always find a place to squeeze into, and you stopped that game at some point?"

"Well, yeah..." Adrex had to contemplate why that was exactly. He had been good at finding hiding spots... or at least better than his one head taller brother had.

"Guess he wasn't as good at it - I don't know?" Was he supposed to feel guilty about it?

"Mhm" his uncle nodded. "And you fought with ehh... your swords, right. How long did that last?"

It wasn't judgmental, but his uncle was clearly putting out some breadcrumbs for Adrex to follow.

"Ehm, not that long. He was way better at it than I were, so..."

His uncle cut in: "Yes, but you found a solution to come around that, right?"

"Yeah, well I started using artillery to counter him. The slingshot, the bow I made, and the crossbow that followed that one?" Adrex said, slightly confused to where this was going.

"Yes, it became a bit violent at that point, and thank Bahamut you didn't keep fighting each other, but made a dummy to practice on. But it was at that time you met your current employer, right?"

Adrex simply nodded. It was one of his fondest memories. Yurgunn had been out, when Adrex and Ildrex had come running with the home-build crossbow... loaded. She had stopped the two dragonborns who were both two feet taller than her, and said such things were not toys, and asked where they had the weapon from. As Adrex had explained he made it himself, she had asked if she could watch it in action, and the boys were happy to show.

At this point, Ildrex were better at shooting with it, but Adrex kept writing improvements down in a notebook every time Ildrex shot with it. This led Yurgunn to come with further suggestions, slowly reeling him into the real world of engineering. Since Adrex had so many questions for Yurgunn about all kinds of contraptions he wanted to make, she one day offered him a job with her, so he could build some of these things, and they could sell them.

Bought and sold, Adrex were. When he had first told his parents about this, there had been a lot of debate in the house between the elders of whether to allow it or not. It hadn't been for long, but since Adrex wasn't more than 13 at the time, his parents and uncle had some concerns about everything.

"But since I've met Yurgunn, I didn't have much time for all of that" Adrex responded.

"No, you haven't" his uncle said shaking his head ever so slightly. "And I can't think you would have been happier, if you hadn't."

He took a breath before he continued.

"However, Ildrex didn't get the same opportunity as you did, Adrex. And he had lost his playmate to a dwarf he couldn't play with. So, he tried to do what you two had been doing before - he trained with his sword, and with your bow, and your crossbow. And he became quite good at it, I must admit".

Adrex still wasn't quite sure how this resulted in what it did.

"That doesn't sound like a bad thing?"

His uncle had a serious look in his eyes, although he was looking at the plates Nadraa and Sora had left.

"It's not, if you know when to use it" he then said.

Adrex felt a shiver go through his spine, and his guts started twirling. _Had Ildrex... no, he wouldn't!_

Donaar saw the expression on Adrex, and hastily continued: "Don't misunderstand me, Adrex. Ildrex didn't do anything to anyone."

He slowed the pace again, before he continued: "But at the time he was 16 years, more than twice the size of almost everyone he was near, and some of the narrow-minded individuals thought it was a good idea to 'poke the bear', as they say."

"They still do" injected Adrex with a hard tone. "As soon as they get drunk, they think they can say whatever they like!"

The gaze of Donaar was stern, as he looked his nephew in the eyes. "They don't need to be intoxicated by alcohol to say that. They can be intoxicate on power as well. Trust me - I know."

He rubbed his nose before he continued in a softer tone: "And your parents and I have tried to teach you, that not everyone are nice people. We tend to remember the bad people more than the good ones. Integrating into society is the best way to overcome this, cause people fear what they don't understand."

Adrex didn't know what to say. That his uncle dealt with this everyday was not something he had expected.

"The difference between you and your brother though, was that you had one of the respected locals taking your part, while Ildrex didn't have anyone. And it left him... " Donaar was picking his word carefully. "... exposed" he finished.

Adrex looked down at his stew before he asked: "Because he was alone?"

Donaar didn't respond immediately, but his answer was as Adrex had expected: "Yes, because he was alone. It's easier to pick on one, than it is to pick on two, I guess."

Adrex started spinning his spoon in his food, before he followed up: "So because I left him..." but was interrupted.

"No, please don't think that, Adrex" his uncle said with an almost sad tone. "It's... What you have now, is what we all dreamed for you to have. You are part of the city, and part of its business. You have friends among the locals, and you are not a stranger to them. They know what you can do for them."

He held a small pause before he continued: "But the locals didn't know your brother, and he was frustrated he couldn't get a chance like yours."

Donaar exhaled, as he finished: "Well, that frustration turned to arguments with your parents about whether this town was any good for him, and..." he nodded to the replaced panel at the wall. "You know how that went. But please don't blame yourself."

Adrex wasn't home to hear those arguments, but he started to understand why his brother had left it all behind him. As he looked up to his uncle, he had only one concern.

"Where is he now?"

Donaar turned his eyes from Adrex towards the entrance to the kitchen where his parents just had come back. He let his tongue run over his teeth before he answered: "Well, lets find out after we have finished dinner, shall we?"

They sat in silence as they finished their meal. It somehow helped on the spirit, and as they finished and cleaned the table, Donaar stood up, and walked to the wall in the entrance which had a mirror hanging on it. He picked it off the wall, and went back to kitchen table, where he laid it down.

"Let's see, if I can get a read on him" he said as he started to mumble some incantations, while the others finished cleaning the dishes.

They all gathered around the table, as the mirror slowly started to waver, and an image of their mill showed itself on its surface. The image turned towards south-east, and started shooting with great speed, rushing faster than anything could move, over mountains, past forests, lakes, and hills, before it slowly descended over a rocky path with a two travelers walking side by side. As the focus came down to head height, it started to spin around the two in a slow pace, showing Ildrex walking next to a half-orc. Both were carrying backpacks, with small pouches hanging from their belts. Ildrex had an odd-looking sword hanging at his side, and shoulder pads made of leather, while the half-orc wore a robe and were only identified by the two tusks in her mouth - the rest of the face covered under a hood. They were both laughing, and Ildrex looked happy in the moment. Suddenly the half-orc stopped, look around until it seemed like she was looking directly at the family, as she made some gestures with her fingers towards them.

Donaar started to breath heavily, and had to let go of the scrying spell, before he collapsed into his chair, as the image turned back into and ordinary mirror.

"Well-" he started gasped from his chair. "It looks like he has found a travel companion."

That was a reassurance to everyone. Adrex got up from his chair.

"I'll be downstairs if you need me" he said.

His guts were turning - both of relief, but also of worry for his brother. He had so many questions for him - where he had been, if he were ever to come back, what he had seen, and who he had met. He missed Ildrex - badly.

As he walked down the stairs to his room, he couldn't stop pondering what would happen if he, too, were out there. It only took a few seconds to realize, that it was properly a bad idea. He had absolutely _no_ idea of how he would survive in the wild.

As he entered his room, his old designs greeted him from the walls with their features and flaws. He pulled out his chair, and started writing questions he needed to ask Victoria and Smearchuckle the following day, as he also noted the ideas he had had for the mobile trap.


	4. Chapter 4

"Bye mom, bye dad, bye Uncle Donaar!" Adrex shouted over his shoulder, as he rushed through the door with his satchel dangling at his side. Today was a new day - with new opportunities to explore, investigate, and engineer. He had a plan for the day, and he was excited to get to working.

As he walked with a hasty speed towards the city, he had started humming [a song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hHfDTVgs0Q) he had heard one time in a tavern, performed by a traveling group:

"_Hupperdoo-oo-ook, Hupperdoo-oo-ook_

_We set the course for Hupperdook._

_Hupperdoo-oo-ook, Hupperdoo-oo-ook_

_The wind leads us to Hupperdook_"

They had been playing on violin, lutes, accordion, flute, and an odd box which had set the beat. And they had all been singing as the song went on. The mood was at its peak that night in the tavern, no doubt about it.

Almost dancing his way through the door under the sign that said "Hammer and Scale", his dwarven colleague raised both an eyebrow and a smile seeing him.

"Well, well - someone's in a good mood, eh?" she greeted him.

"... to Hup-per-dook" Adrex sang, as the music in his head finished. "Indeed, a good day" he continued. "And good morning to you, Yurgunn."

"Care to share wha' got yeh' so high up t'day?" She had a smile on her face, seeing Adrex so happy and lively. Normally he sat with his face buried in notes, writing, calculating, and mumbling to himself.

"Absolutely" Adrex replied, fumbling in his satchel, before he made a pause, looking a bit around for nothing but his own thoughts.

"Point of order: gears, then rockets", as he took off his satchel, and went to the workshop in the back. "Come - you have to see them in action".

As he walked past Yurgunn, she lit up even more: "Uh, yeh' got them working?" she asked with some degree of exitement in her tone.

Adrex turned his head with a grin on his face. "Oh, did I".

As he took the last few steps towards the bench with his setup, he stood a bit to the side, so Yurgunn could see what he had made. He let the lead piece hang freely in the air, which made everything spin a few degrees, as it got loaded.

"So - as you can see - the plate is pushed up by this spring. The spring, when pushed down, will let go of this lever, which releases the break of these gears. They are set in motion because of this piece of lead dragging them down, and because of the size of the gears, it will only drop a few inches, but spin the gear over here..." Adrex had to check at his notes, just to be sure. "... 8 times, before the gears lock again by the lever and the spring".

He stood for a moment looking at it all, nodding to himself, before Yurgunn interrupted his inner fanfare.

"Yeh' tell'n me, tha' tha' plate being pushed down, will only make this stone drop a nudge, but spin tha' gear 8 times, before it's ready again?" Her tone was a combination of disbelief and amazement, so Adrex just took a step back, and opened his hand towards the plate as a gesture for her to try it.

She had one of her expressions on her face where he could almost hear her say "really now?", and as she walked around the table, she held her hand above the plate with a stretch finger, still looking at Adrex.

Adrex nodded twice, as she pressed it down with narrow eyes.

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_ \- in that order, as the gear spun from the drag of the lead piece, letting it fall just a few inches, as the plate raised itself again, and the lever snapped into place, keeping the gears in check.

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_.

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_.

Yurgunn's finger kept pressing the plate, with a visibly excited facial expression.

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

"Eh's like a toy, Adri'! A' could keep press'en this buttom all day." She was like hypnotized of it.

Adrex folded his arms, rather proud of what he had made.

"I didn't get to try it much yesterday, but the math is solid" he said with a smile on his face.

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

"So, wha' would yeh' say this could be used for?" Yurgunn asked, as she sat down in a chair next to the table, looking him in the eyes.

"Well, there's the obvious trap, that keeps reloading" Adrex started. "Then there's-"

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

"-the..." Adrex had a hard time not chuckling, as Yurgunn pressed the plate. "eh - the gears can spin an exact amount of time, which-"

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

The dwarf didn't take her eyes from his, and her face were without a change, as she clicked the plate again.

"... could - hehe - make two devices work in-"

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

"Yurgunn, pl... please stop." A combination of giggling and frustration was building up inside Adrex, as the dwarf kept her eyes on him, as she pressed the plated another time.

"A'm list'nin', Adri'" she said without a change in her face.

"... In synchroniz-"

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

"Yurgunn-"

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

"Please, I-"

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

Adrex couldn't contain his laughter any longer. It was funny, but it was also annoying beyond anything he had tried for a long time, and for each press, a shiver shot through his bones, making him weak in his knees, and left an itch he had to rub away.

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

"Hihi - stop it, Yurgunn - hihi. I- I can't..." Adrex actually couldn't stand up anymore, and his knees gave in under him, as he fell to the ground giggling like a little kid.

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

"Wha's tha', Adri?" the dwarf said with tone of wonder, but a mind only out to tease him.

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

It was like a dozen of small insects crawling around inside his bones, making every joint in this body itch and nothing to help it. And it kept getting worse and worse for each click.

_Click, zzzzuuuuuiiii, duk, click_

_Click, zzzz, du-duk_

The lead piece hit the ground. Adrex' knees were still itching along with his elbows, hand wrists, ankles, and shoulders, and he was still giggling, though less audible and more focused on rubbing his joints.

"Looks more like yeh' made a toy, Adri'" the dwarf said with a big grin on her face, as she turned back to the setup to study it further.

"Of cause we can use it for traps - tha's obvious" she said, with her face up close to one of the gears. "Yeh started to say somethin' 'bout it makin' a certain amount of spin, and somethin' about two devices, eh?"

Adrex had finally gather himself enough to get an arm up at the table to help his buzzing bones up from the floor.

"Yeah, the gears turn in perfect unison - they cannot not be exactly where you expect them to be with the math. They don't skip a cog - even though they are so small." He was still rubbing his wrists as he got up.

Yurgunn had raised an eyebrow at this moment, as if an idea had struck her.

"Wha' 'bout tha' Tinkertop family? They might be in need of somethin' like this?" She looked back to Adrex, who had tilted his head a bit to the side. "We could get 'em over to see the posibilities, and sell 'em the schematics, ay?"

Adrex liked the sound of that. If Cleff Tinkertop and his daughter, Rissannya, would buy it, then it could sell it to others as well.

"Yeah", Adrex said, nodding while scratching the back of his head. "That sounds like a plan. Do you want to setup the meeting today?"

Yurgunn clapped the table, as she started walking towards the door. "Ofcause! No time to waste! We've money to make."

She suddenly made a halt, before entering the front of the store, as she turned a worried face towards Adrex. "Yeh' said somethin' 'bout rockets before?"

"Yeah, I have been thinking about the mobile trap from yesterday, and I think I came up with a..." He had to find a phrase for it. "... possible path to investigate. Rockets are the stepping stone."

Yurgunn didn't seem less worried by that statement, but started nodding. "Yeh' wan' to send somethin' like rockets towards the target?"

She wasn't convinced at all by the look on her face. "Ay - tha' most indeed be a stepping stone. I need to hear more about it later. First, I'll head over to Tinkertop, and ask if he wan' to come and have a look at this", she said nodding her head towards the bench and its setup, "and then we'll talk more 'bout rockets, ay?"

She was already about to leave through the front door, as Adrex called out to her: "You won't mind, if I stop by the twins for some research, right?" That usually wasn't a problem.

"Just don't tell 'em the secrets this time!" came a stern reply.

It _usually_ wasn't a problem - for a reason. When Adrex had an idea and people probed him about it, he had a hard time holding back about the details. And that was half of their business - selling functional ideas, and turning these ideas into actual solutions for clients.

Well - that meant he had an hour or two, before a demonstration was needed from him. He grabbed his satchel, checked his notebook and pencil was in there, and found the sign for the front door. Well, it wasn't a sign, but more a modular board, with the carved in text:

**Not in the store.**

**Will be back at __ __ __ __.**

The blank line at the end was a hole, which showed a small part of a spinner. The spinner had the text "noon", "evening", and "tomorrow" engraved. This way they could reuse the same sign whenever they went out, but modify it to show clients who came by about when to expect them back.

Adrex turned it to _noon_, placed it on the door, locked it, and headed towards the twins and their shop. He had tried to figure out how to conceal how he could ask questions, that wouldn't give away what he was making - or planning to make at least. He had made a small list of phrases he thought would not give away too much, yet stay close enough to the subject. Basically, he needed to know why rockets took so long to fly off, what made them fly, and if they could fly straight in any way. That could be wrapped into some questions that wouldn't spark too much of an interest with the twins.

After a few minutes of walking, Adrex turned a corner, and could see the two stories tall building which had its own flat roof which acted as a launchpad. The sign at the door said **Rockets with sparkles and glitter**, and it fooled no one. The twins specialized in sparkles and glitter, because that was what their customers wanted to see, and the customers would even have a chance to see some being shot off from the roof.

Adrex stood outside the door for a short moment, gathering his thoughts, and wiggled his face to look relaxed, clearing his voice with a few coughs, before he knocked trice on the door, and entered.

The first thing Adrex noted when he entered was, that the air in here was not as bad as it had been at earlier occasions. It still had a bit of powder hanging in here, but this train of thought was shoved away as he saw one of the twins, Victoria, sitting with on the floor, knees up, and face buried in her hands - clearly not happy about something, though not audible crying. As the door bell rang, a small shock went through her, as a face with red swollen eyes look towards the him, quickly changing a depressed frown to... a delight?

Adrex wasn't sure what to say, but tried anyway: "Eh... Victo-"

He was cut off, as she leapt up from the floor, and almost shot herself into him, arms hugging him.

"Oh, Adrex - just the one I needed to see" she started, her voice cracking a bit. "I don't know if I can keep on doing this."

Adrex had to scan the room for whatever could have caused this, as he gently put his arms around her, lightly patting her on the back. There was no sign of a break-in, the desk had its papers stacked neatly, and finished products were stacked in glass cases - ah, there - at the floor, next to where she had been sitting was a scroll on the floor. That must have been what caused this.

"There, there" he said, still with some confusion in his voice. "How can I help you?"

She released him of her hug, as she took a step back, and wiped her right eye with her sleeve.

"You are one of the most sensible individuals I know, and I..." she started, before she cut herself off with as her arms made a resigning gesture, as her voice went from a helpless state to irritated. "I need common sense around, and perhaps a bit more than that."

Adrex stilled had too little to go on, so he just took the compliment, as he closed the door behind him.

"Okay... Ehm, tell me what happened", Adrex said, as Victoria had started to rub her temples.

She let go of her head, and held her hands in the air for a second, before she spun around towards the scroll on the ground. A firmness entered her voice along with frustrations.

"We received a complaint! The customer was _not_ happy, and have said they will never buy anything from us again". She had picked up the scroll, and started waving it in the air, before she slammed it down on the table.

That was indeed bad news, Adrex thought to himself. If the customer had even taken the time to write the twins, it must have been a really bad experience they had had.

"Okay - did the rocket misfire, or something like that?" Adrex asked, still not quite sure why he was the one she wanted to see over a complaint she had gotten. Adrex wasn't too good around customers, so he didn't have a whole lot of good advice to give on that subject.

"What? No - never! Our rockets always works." Victoria replied, with a rushed voice, and continued with a more frustrated tone: "The dimwit who wrote this thought they would be helpful, and wrote down the entire event!"

_Well, that makes it easier to find the root cause._ Adrex didn't say it, but just hang his satchel at the coat stand, as Victoria started to read from the paper.

"_To 'Rockets with sparkles and glitter'._"

"_After my purchase at your shop, and many promises of the best money could buy, I am deeply disappointed in the result. You even included a ridiculously long guide of how to proceed, and after reviewing it several times, I found I did everything to the point, but still ended up disappointed with the result._"

She had picked it up and started pacing back and forth in the room, as she read it aloud.

"_I placed it in a tube, as specified in section 5, cleared the area around it as specified in section 3, had the necessary protection gear_ \- yada, yada, yada." She skipped most of the steps, as she continued:

"_\- and we almost couldn't see it._ _The sky was clear of clouds, and the rocket went straight up, and my would-be-business partner and I agreed, that this was the most disappointing ending to an otherwise wonderful_ _**lunch arrangement!**_".

As she looked up from the paper with look of disbelief, it hit Adrex what was wrong, but he didn't get to more than open his mouth, before she slammed the scroll onto the counter, and with a fury Adrex never had imagined Victoria had inside her, roared: "THAT IDIOT FIRED IT MIDDAY!"

She took a step towards the chair, as she collapsed in it, heavy breathing, as she tried to calm herself.

Adrex had a challenge with what to do with himself. This was one of the most stupid things he had ever heard one of their customers do, and it so clearly justified why Victoria had to write all of these manuals. But he couldn't laugh out loud of it, cause the situation did not call out for laughter.

He understood her frustration though, cause they had had stupid clients as well, who 'wanted to try their own security system, and had been hurt' - which was the point with said security system. When they had gotten that news, Adrex had not been able to contain himself, and there was still a clear mark in his workbench from his hammer, where he had slammed it several times until the initial rage had left his body - now serving him as a reminder, that clients must have very clear instructions of what they can do - and what they cannot do - with their products.

Careful with his words, Adrex thought he might be able to shift Victoria's thoughts to something else. "So, what does Smearchuckle think of the situation?"

A smile could be seen shortly at Victoria's face, as she kept staring into her desk. "She is always thinking about the business, you know. 'Can't have people talking bad about the shop'. So she have decided to make an 'apology'-gift for the client..."

_Well, that's nice of her..._

"... with extra powder in it, very short fuse, and no instructions."

Adrex couldn't hide the snickering in his throat that caused his chest to spasm. Victoria's fury had left, and was replaced with a smirk, as she turned her head towards the backroom Smearchuckle usually would be in.

"I better go see she won't be blowing up this place" Victoria said, as she stood up.

_Uh, this might be my chance_, Adrex thought to himself, as he probed with a combination of worry and curiosity: "Blow up, you say?"

Victoria was on her way to the back, as she simply replied: "Well, that's what happens if you stuff the powder too tightly. Then the rockets won't fly up, but simply blow."

_Not too tight - got it_.

As she reached the door, she knocked on it twice as she yelled: "Hey - Chuckly'. Is it safe to enter?"

The answer that came back was from a more deep and harsh voice, which had a keen intelligence behind it: "Just don't smack any of the equipment around, and you'll be fine!"

Victoria rolled her eyes as she entered the door: "That was _one_ time, Chuckly'. Can you please leave it in the past where it belongs?"

Adrex followed suit, as Smearchuckle's comeback cut clear through their shop: "LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES!"

Adrex had, over time, found out this was the family motto, and could only wonder how it had come to be, but had not dared asking.

He poked his head inside, as the smell of sulfur and charcoal hit his nostrils. "Hey Smearchuckle - I hear things are bad today?"

The room reminded him somehow of his own workshop's backroom, except Adrex had files, hammers, and anvils, while Smearchuckle had labeled bottles with powder, mortars, weights, and parchments lying around.

Victoria's sister sat with a mortar and a pestle, grinding something to powder, as she looked towards Adrex and Victoria. She had a serious expression which shifted more towards a smile, as his face peaking through the door.

"Well, if it isn't our favorite tinker". She sat up a bit, as she brushed her hair with one end of the pestle. "Yes, the customer couldn't see enough fireworks, so I'm trying to give him a really good blast. But I'm facing a bit of an issue with the weight-to-nozzle-width ratio, so the rocket won't take off at this state."

Adrex looked slightly confused. To his knowledge, a rocket flew because the powder inside burned through a small hole - called a nozzle - pushing the rocket upwards. The more powder, the bigger the nozzle. The bigger the nozzle, the more could be pushed forward.

"Don't you have a fixed ratio for that? Like 2/3 of compound A, and 1/3 compound B, or something like that?"

It was a honest question, and perhaps he could learn something from Smearchuckle. She was the one who came up with the materials and formulas, and Victoria came with the ideas, and helped assemble the rockets with Smearchuckle's instructions.

The expression he got back from her, however, clearly stated he had that wrong. He glanced towards Victoria, who had a curious look on her face, as if that was her understanding as well.

"Is that...?" he started.

"No" Smearchuckle replied a bit tired. "No, not quite."

She had put down the mortar and the pestle, as she tapped a finger on the edge of the mortar, clearly pondering something. She then held up a finger, stood up from her chair, and walked over to a table behind her.

"Let's make a small quiz, shall we?" she said, as she grabbed a bottle with powder, and a metal plate. She made two rows of powder on the plate - both the same length, but one row was thicker that the other.

"The question is simple - which row will burn faster? The thin, or the tick?" she said as she pointed towards the two rows.

That seemed simple enough - the more powder, the more could burn, and the faster it would burn.

Adrex and Victoria exchanged glances - they both had the same idea.

"The thick one" Victoria said with a good amount of confidence.

_Wait, the less to burn, the faster it can burn?_ Adrex thought to himself, just before Smearchuckle took two candles, and held one to each row. It went rather fast, and the light was very bright - brightest from the thick row - but when the two rows faded, it was simultaneously.

This was unexpected for both Adrex and Victoria. How could this be? Adrex had to rub his bridge between his eyes as he pondered this.

Victoria was the first to break the silence: "So, they burn equally fast?"

"In free form, yes" Smearchuckle replied, before continuing: "As you also saw, the thick row burned brighter than the thin row. That would imply, that when we seal the two rows in two rocket with the same size nozzle, the thick row's rocket would burn faster, and fly with greater force upwards, right?"

That sounded like perfect logic to Adrex. Victoria nodded as well, as she leaned towards a table.

"Now, I spread the powder in a nice row, and as you saw, the rows burned fast" Smearchuckle continued, as she held up her hands to explain further. "The way we make rockets, is by storing a certain amount of powder in the bottom of the rocket - just above the nozzle. The nozzle size determines how much can be pushed through at the same time. Still keeping up?"

_So far, so good_, Adrex thought to himself, as he nodded again.

"And as you might have thought; more powder - more flame. There's a small catch, however" she said with a more serious expression. "I spread the powder in lines, which meant they could burn as much as the wanted, and produce all the fire they could. As the powder burned in the row, it would ignite the rest of the row - but with the same speed, since the amount that could burn into the air are the same for the two rows."

Suddenly Adrex got what she was saying, as she continued:

"But when you pack that into a rocket, it's not in lines - it's just a pack, that almost burn everything at the same time. Take a guess at what happens, when more powder, in a rocket, all burns at the same time?"

Adrex didn't have to guess. He saw what happened the other night, and had felt the effect around him, as the rocket had started flying, and blew up, sending all its colors flying around his curled up tail.

Victoria looked slightly confused though. "Then it will come out faster, and with a bigger nozzle push the rocket up, right?"

Adrex held his hands up near each other so Victoria could see them, as he shaped them to a ball, and stretched his fingers so show an explosion.

Smearchuckle had a wry smile on her face, as she nodded towards Adrex' motions. "I had the same thought, dear sister, but Adrex got it right, I'm afraid. When you pack powder too tight, it will blow up, sending everything flying around your ears. There's simply too great an expansion, and our rockets are merely made of clay and parchment."

She threw her hands up in the air, as she exclaimed: "And that is why I can't make a bigger rocket with more content in. It will blow up in our faces."

_Clay and parchments?_ Adrex thought to himself. Well, there was something stronger out there, for sure.

"How about making it of metal then?" he asked.

Smearchuckle looked at him with a bit of confusion. "There's a couple of issues there, my dear tinker" she started. "If you make it of metal, it will be heavier, and require more powder. And if load more powder, you will get a equally short burn, just with way more force in it. That, however, will make it more uncontrollable".

It was like a frustration she could get off her mind. Not that she was angry with Adrex, but more in general.

"And if that wasn't enough, metal rockets would cost way more to make, and a piece of metal would drop down from the sky when fired."

She finally sighed. "I'm sorry, Adrex, but I don't think you can get such a heavy object up with a rocket."

Adrex had to admit defeat. He simply didn't know enough about the topic to pitch in with something valuable at this point. "Yeah, you are right. That would require a canon, or something like it. Perhaps not as big, but..."

_Actually, that's not a bad idea_, Adrex thought to himself. Canons shot huge cannonballs, which required way more power.

"How about a small canon to fire the glitter in the air?" he asked.

Both the twins semmed to be frozen in time; Smearchuckle looked very intensely into the wall, clearly thinking about it. As Adrex looked to Victoria, she had a very focused stare at the ground, as she too had started thinking about it.

Smearchuckle broke the silence: "We could separate the powder in the rocket from the package with the glitter in, and we have fuses..." she started, before she made some big eyes to her sister.

Adrex sometimes had short, mute conversations with Yurgunn, when he had proposed something, and she didn't even wanted to say anything, but they just made facial expression back and forth, until it was decided that it was a ridiculous suggestion.

The conversation Victoria and Smearchuckle held, however, was way longer, and required way more expressions, but still without a sound. At some point Smearchuckle, facing her sister, nodded towards Adrex with a very firm look. Victoria turned to Adrex, as she licked her mouth, and with a very charming voice said:

"Adrex dear, why don't we... make a deal?"

_What? yes, sure - wait no, not too hasty_, Adrex thought to himself, as his heart suddenly started pounding faster.

"Ehm-" he started, as his mind kept racing.

_Deal - why? What do they want they want a deal about? They are not serious about making canons, are they? No, they can't... Actually it could be a good idea to send up only the glitter... and... I came up with that_.

Yes, that was it. But Adrex didn't want to make canons with glitter. He wanted...

_A mobile cannon which could send something out in a heartbeat._

"Deal, you say?" There was something to gain here.

Victoria gentle put her hand around his arm, as she closely leaned in him, padding his shoulder with her other hand, as her silky smooth voice continued.

"You know - that was a really good suggestion you had there."

His eyes were locked to hers, as her nose slowly came closer to his face. He couldn't remember the last time _anyone_ had been so close to face to be honest, but right in front of him was Victoria. She was so close Adrex could smell the perfume of some flower she was wearing.

_Oh dear, she smells wonderful_, Adrex thought has he heart kept hammering.

"And,-" she continued with a lulled tone. "That could put us in a _very_ fine position on the market, if _we_ don't tell others about how it works, right?"

Her right hand reached for his chin, and as she laid her index finger along his jaw, she continued with the same tone: "So, if it was only us that knew about it..." she held a small pause. "_We_ could really make something worthwhile, right".

Adrex had a hard time thinking clearly with two sets of sparkling eyes staring into his.

"M-hm" was the best response he could utter with a shaky voice.

She laid the other hand right below his collarbone, as two fingers gently glided along the vest he wore towards its closure.

"And, it wouldn't be a deal, if you weren't getting anything in return, now would it?" Her voice was now more breath than it was clear speak.

A small whimpering sound escaped Adrex, as Victoria leaned her entire body up his.

_Anything?_ Well, now that she was proposing it herself.

* * *

He had left slightly confused. Females could be hard to wrap his head around, or perhaps it was just humans - he wasn't sure. In his hand he held a small piece of parchment from the words of Smearchuckle:

"Three quarter potassium nitrate. The rest is split three/fifth of charcoal, and two/fifth sulfur" she had said, before she had shoved him out the door, because she was busy.

Apparently this was what the twins used as "black powder", as they called it. Very fitting, of cause. It was a fine powder, but to think it could have the effect to send up rockets was very new to Adrex. And if it could make an actual explosion, then Adrex had just what he wanted for his mobile trap. Just take a barrel, stomp in some of this black powder, and it would fly in the direction you held it?

_Marvelous_, Adrex thought to himself, as he headed back towards the shop. And he hadn't given them any secrets at all. He had just come up with some suggestions, and then...

A smile curled up on his face. Then Victoria had almost kissed him on the cheek, as she had let her soft body rest towards his. He could feel his heart start pumping faster again. Her face had been so close to his, with those puppy eyes, and that smile of hers. It was like he was next to her again. He could even recall her perfume of roses, as she had gently brushed his hand with hers, as her gentle words had left her beautiful lips.

And she had asked what he wanted for his suggestion, and it had been so easy - the recipe for black powder of cause.

For unknown reasons, Victoria had stomped out the room rather fast after that, leaving Adrex with Smearchuckle which of cause was the one with the exact knowledge.

Both knowledge, and a closeup with Victoria... He might be in need of a moment for himself when he got back to the shop.

_To be continued..._


End file.
